Algerone turned. "What?"
"We caught one of them. The team got him in the stairwell on sublevel two. He was trying to reach the parking garage."
"Alive?" I asked.
"Very. Took three men to subdue him, and he's currently secured in interrogation room B." Reid's expression was carefully neutral. "He's not talking. Yet."
Algerone's grip tightened on his cane, and for a moment I saw something dangerous flash in his eyes. The kind of look that reminded me why people feared him. Why theyshouldfear him.
"Have you identified him?" Algerone asked quietly.
"Working on it. No ID on him, fingerprints aren't in any database we can access remotely. We'll need to dig deeper." Reid glanced at me, then back to Algerone. "But he had this."
He held up an evidence bag containing a slim black device. The competing sonic weapon we'd seen in the footage.
"GidTech?" I asked.
"No markings, but the design matches their prototype specs from the intelligence we gathered last year." Reid turned the bag over. "Whoever made this had access to serious R&D funding."
Algerone stared at the device for a long moment. "Where's the prototype? Did he have it?"
"No sir. Just this weapon and a communications device we're working on cracking. Whatever he was doing on sublevel two, retrieving the prototype wasn't part of it."
"He was covering the exit," I said, the tactical picture coming together. "Making sure his team could extract with the prototype while he held the rear."
"That's our assessment as well." Reid shifted his weight. "The others got away clean. We've got alerts out at every major transportation hub within two hundred miles, but if they had a private aircraft..."
"They're already gone," Algerone finished. His jaw worked for a moment. "But we have this one."
The way he said it made something cold slide down my spine. I'd seen Algerone in many moods over thirty-two years. Angry,calculating, ruthless when necessary. But this was different. This was personal.
"I want to see him," Algerone said.
Reid's expression didn't change. "Of course, sir. Whenever you're ready."
"Now." Algerone was already moving toward the door, not waiting for acknowledgment.
I fell into step beside him, my mind already racing ahead. Interrogation Room B was in the secure wing, two floors down. The entire floor had soundproofed walls, no windows, and multiple cameras that could be switched off if necessary. We'd used it in situations where traditional methods weren't appropriate.
The elevator ride down was silent. Reid took point, standing in front of the doors, hands casually resting on his weapons, while Algerone's cane tapped a steady rhythm against the floor. His face was a controlled mask, but he held enough tension in his shoulders that he was going to be sore later.
The doors opened onto a corridor that looked nothing like the sleek executive floors above. The walls here were concrete, the lighting industrial, the doors two thousand pound steel mechanisms managed by three different electronic locks. This was the part of Lucky Losers that didn't exist in the corporate brochures.
Reid stopped at the third door on the left and keyed in his access code.
"He's restrained but conscious," Reid said, his hand on the door handle. "No serious injuries beyond some bruising from the takedown. Medical cleared him."
Algerone nodded once, his expression unreadable. Then he looked at me.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. His green eyes held mine, and I saw the question there, unasked but clear. Icould leave now if I wanted. Walk away. Maintain the plausible deniability that kept the corporate side of Lucky Losers clean.
Or I could follow him through that door and witness whatever came next.
I’d stood by his side through legitimate business and the darker necessities that came with it. I'd made my choice a long time ago about what I was willing to do for him. For us. For what we'd built together.
"After you, sir," I said quietly.
Reid pulled the door open and stepped back. Algerone walked into the interrogation room, and I followed him into the dark.
